Sanitation truck strikes, kills Manhattan woman

A woman died Wednesday morning after she ran after her dog and was struck by a sanitation truck near her Manhattan home.

Authorities said Jacqueline Haeflinger, 58, was fatally struck by the garbage truck at around 10 a.m. near her Chelsea apartment. Reports said Haeflinger was walking her pet Boston Terrier near the intersection of West 15th Street and Eighth Avenue when the dog got loose and ran under the truck.Credit: islamoyankee/Flickr

A woman died Wednesday morning after she ran after her dog and was struck by a sanitation truck near her Manhattan home.

Authorities said Jacqueline Haeflinger, 58, was fatally struck by the garbage truck at around 10 a.m. near her Chelsea apartment.

Reports said Haeflinger was walking her pet Boston Terrier near the intersection of West 15th Street and Eighth Avenue when the dog got loose and ran under the truck.

Haeflinger is said to have reached underneath the truck to recover the dog but was instead run over by the truck as it backed into the street.

Emergency officials declared her dead at the scene.

Police said the dog, named Violet, was unharmed and in police custody.

The Sanitation Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Police consider the investigation into the circumstances around the accident ongoing.